Christmas cards lead to prison for man

A man flagrantly flouted a court order banning him from contacting his ex-partner on three separate occasions in just over a year.

The latest brazen breach of the non-harassment order led to 34-year-old Shaun Wakenshaw being jailed for six months at Perth Sheriff Court.

The court was told that the original order, lasting two years, had been imposed at Jedburgh Sheriff Court on December 10, 2018.

He was barred from approaching or contacting the 26-year-old woman in any way.

The order was then extended to five years on October 14, 2019.

But still he failed to stay away from her - and he paid the penalty with the loss of his liberty.

The accused admitted that on various occasions between October 30, 2019, and January 15, 2020, at an address in Milnathort, he breached the terms of the order.

Depute fiscal Michael Sweeney said the woman spotted the accused in the Kinross-shire town on one occasion last October and that caused her to “take an alternative route” to where she was going.

On another occasion she was in her home and when she looked out of her window she saw Wakenshaw loitering on a grassy area outside.

He was still there when she checked about five to 10 minutes later.

On December 20, 2019, she got four cards through her door - three of them Christmas cards.

She was then on the phone to her mother on January 15 this year and she told her daughter that the accused had sent her a text.

He had asked her to contact the complainer. As a result of that, the police were contacted.

A solicitor for the accused said he now accepted the relationship was “well and truly” over.

“None of the messages was threatening but nonetheless the contact was unwanted and would have caused distress,” the solicitor added.

“He has to accept this was a deliberate flouting of two court orders and a custodial sentence is inevitable.”

Wakenshaw, of Abbey Road, Coldstream, had his jail term backdated to January 17, when he was first remanded.